Affaires d'Etats

The State Within was a miniseries starring Jason Isaacs, Sharon Gless, Ben Daniels, Lennie James, and Eva Birthistle.

Totally amazing miniseries that could have been written YESTERDAY. Eleven years later, all our problems remain the same - terrorists, immigrants, the death penalty, crooked politicians, and conspiracies, to name only a few.

Isaacs plays the British ambassador to the U.S. who becomes embroiled in a couple of tough situations that strangely connect. First, a bomb explodes in a plane carrying both British and American passengers. Then a member of his staff (Birthistle) works on his behalf to free a death row prisoner, a war hero in the Falklands. Information surfaces during this about a black ops that seems to be run out of the office of the Secretary of Defense. And it appears a few people higher up want this soldier's final appeals to fail.

Riveting drama with lots of twists throughout, and a total surprise at the end.

Jason Isaacs is fantastic - I don't think I've ever heard his British accent. He always plays Americans perfectly. Lennie James is a standout as the death row prisoner. But the showcase role belongs to Sharon Gless as Lynn Warner, the toughest Secretary of Defense anyone has ever seen. She's brilliant.

When I say this could have been written yesterday, I'm not kidding. That alone makes it worth seeing.

Seconds after taking off from Washington, flight 113 to London explodes over the city, causing loss of life in the sky and on the ground. Outgoing UK ambassador to Washington Mark Brydon is on the ground when it happens and witnesses first hand the tragic events. US Secretary of Defence Lynne Warner is giving a speech at a business event and is rushed away when she learns of the "attack". A former UK ambassador to Turkistan criticises the US and UK for ignoring human rights violations there. A military training exercise in Virginia sees a solider dead, stripped of ID and dumped in a river. A British prisoner on death row sees the hours ticking away on his appeal. The news that flight 113 was bombed by a British Muslim sees the Governor of Virginia rounding up British Muslims in his state. Meanwhile in Washington, Brydon's attempts to minimise the political fallout sees him drawn into a bigger conspiracy than he could have imagined as connections between the bomber and US interests in Turkistan come to the fore.

The first episode opens quickly, matching the dizzy speed that the camera moves around, with a bomb bringing down a passenger plane. This opening looks to grab you and hold you because the writers know that they all viewers are going to be thrown into the middle of a lot of detail and be asked to keep up with it even though the connections will not start coming together for an episode or two (baring in mind this only was six episodes long). Obviously I didn't know this at the start and I confess I did find the first two episodes to be demanding of attention without giving a lot back. However sticking with it does see all the pieces fall into place in a rather convoluted but engaging web of twists and developments. The conspiracy is sadly believable and the series builds a plot that 24 would be proud of – albeit with a bit less action.

The delivery is solid and enjoyable with an intelligently building narrative that does reward paying attention. Aside from the early plane crash grabbing attention, there isn't 24 levels of action and some viewers may find it quite talky but the series doesn't seem concerned with this – to its credit. The whole production looks professional and expensive but at times the shaky camera-work is a distraction – in moderation it isn't a problem but some episodes felt like it had been filmed during an earthquake! The narrative does have one glaring problem within it and that is the issue of political bias. If you are right-wing and believe that the Iraq war was right and that it was all about WMD (or regime change or whatever the official reason is as you read this) then you will probably hate this series because the whole plot is essentially a very unsubtle parallel with Iraq (in regards US going to war obviously – the whole "fabricating the war thing is total fiction!). As a bit of a liberal, this element didn't bother me that much but at times it was all a bit obvious and unimaginative in regards the underlying ideas.

The cast is a strange mix but mostly pretty good despite some of them betraying the limited budget of the piece. Isaacs runs the show and he delivers a solid leading man who holds the attention well. Below him the biggest name is Sharon Gless; she is OK but somehow she doesn't convince in her role. Ben Daniels is as good as Isaacs in his rather shadowy role. O'Reilly is very so-so while James and Pearson were surprise finds in supporting roles. The rest all do well enough in their various characters as this isn't a story that asks a lot of depth from the supporting actors so much as it asks for solid turns.

Overall then a pretty enjoyable and engaging conspiracy thriller. The cast are mostly good and work well with a script that rewards paying attention with a satisfying story. The basic idea is a bit obvious and will annoy hawks with its obvious political bias but mostly it should be good enough to please casual viewers as long as you don't expect it to be action packed and contain all the gloss and budget of 24 (for example).

This thriller can be described as "24" without the action but with the same wonderful twists and turns. Not until the fourth episode you get some sense what the story is about. Of course the plot seems far fetched. But if you look at Bush and his policy it suddenly is closer to home than you imagine. It is also obvious that this series is some sort of protest or at least criticism against US policy regarding terrorists and the death penalty. (The attention this sub plot got was gripping drama at best. Excellent performance by Lennie James!) We get some insight what a British ambassador does and needs to do in order to maintain his position. Jason Isaacs who is most famous for portraying villains is wonderful and amazing as the main character. Tough,diplomatic,a man of action and not afraid to show his compassion and emotion. He really shows it all. What more do you want. Good performances,intriguing plot and solid entertainment! I hope we will see more of shows like this in the future.

I watched the first episode last night and it is certainly gripping. There seem to be a lot of story lines weaving around the central story. There are high production values and with the mixture of UK and US stars I expect this will gain and audience on both sides of the pond. There is International terrorism a la 9/11, diplomacy, internment, gay spies, CIA, MI6. I am not going to précis the story as it is as yet unfolding. Sharon Gless (Secretary of Defense Lynne Warner), was interviewed on Radio 4 this morning and according to her you will not get the full story until the final episode. She likened it to "The Sixth Sense". Stand by for more gripping episodes.

We're at episode four - and I'm like a kid with a new book dying to get to the end and yet longing for the story to carry on indefinitely. A rare title - one that describes the film perfectly - states within at all levels; from political perversion to commercial greed to personal persuasion. A huge onion of a script!

The plot is an artistic reconciliation (thus far) - the more complex the situations become,the more clearly we can distinguish personal facets of characters. But I think that there are yet some darker horses preparing for a gallop.

The story started fairly slowly and we were able to watch as individuals were drawn into the web of lies and deceit, many simply there to be trapped and killed. However I'm not sure whether or not we've met the master weaver yet or whether that will remain a mystery even after the final title has rolled.

I'm not worried about the end being a let down - unless Britain (or any other country for that matter) suddenly produces Sir Lancelot - and I don't think that's likely to happen.

I hope you've not missed it! If you have - watch out for the second showing - this is a really big treat.